SKYWARN Newsletter #230

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Hello to all...

Very Active Spring and Summer in Southern New England/Thanks for Support!....

May Floods of 2006 Report to Follow in a Separate Update This Weekend...

SKYWARN Training Schedule Update For July Sessions....

SKYWARN Frequency Listing Updated with Latest Known Information....

Feature Article: The VoIP Hurricane Net....

Enhanced Fujita Scale to Be Utilized Beginning in 2007....

SPC Requests Public Feedback on Various Products....

NHC Requests Public Feedback on Various Products....

***Newsletter Issued: 7/8/2006.

Very Active Spring and Summer in Southern New England/Thanks for Support!....

It has been a very active Spring and Summer in Southern New England.

After going through a period with just 3 SKYWARN Self-Activations

from late February through mid-May for very localized areas,

since the Floods of Mother's Day Weekend 2006 that started Friday

May 12th, 2006 through Saturday July 8th, 2006, we've had a total of 17

SKYWARN Activations with an additional 5 days of SKYWARN Stand-by

monitoring/self activation work during the period for a total of 22

SKYWARN Activation days in the past 2 months. This stretch has also

included weather events that affected Amateur Radio Field Day

weekend, the 4th of July festivities for parts of the area, and other

public service events and activities across the region.

Through it all SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators have

provided incredibly timely and crucial reports that have resulted

in more and better warnings with longer lead time for the region.

This included cases where folks may have been at Public Service

Events, have been at work during the day, are having cookouts at

their homes, and trying to enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

This is a tremendous achievement that clearly underscores the hard

work and dedication of Amateur Radio Operators and SKYWARN Spotters

across the region. NWS Taunton forecasters truly appreciate all the

hard work and dedication of spotters across the region. It is clear

that better surface/ground truth reports leads to better warning

lead time and more accurate warnings for the region. Your hard work

has made all of this possible and we ask for your continued dedication

and support despite all of the work and activity that we've had

during the past 2 months.

May Floods of 2006 Report to Follow in a Separate Update This Weekend...

A separate update on the May 12-15th Floods of 2006 will be sent out

this weekend in a separate email. The email will contain the following:

1.) Pertinent Flood Local Storm Report and Public Information Statements.

2.) Articles has posted by the ARRL.

3.) Articles and reports as posted on the MEMA (Massachusetts Emergency

Management Agency) web site.

4.) Additional information on Amateur Radio operations that may not have

been posted during the event.

This will be the finalized information on the May floods of 2006 once it

is posted.

SKYWARN Training Schedule Update For July Sessions....

We have two additional SKYWARN training sessions upcoming for the

month of July. One will be in Boston and the other will be in

Bedford, NH. Below are the dates and particulars for the training:

07/15/2006 1030 AM-1:30PM MIT Tang Center, E51-345, Cambridge Room

Sat. 70 Memorial Drive

Cambridge, Mass.

-Parking available on Memorial Drive and in lot on Amherst Street.

-Easy Access from I-93, Route 3, I-90 via Memorial Drive Westbound,

Wadsworth to Amherst, or Main to Ames to Amherst Street.

-Also easy access from MBTA Red Line (Kendall MIT), short walk from

MBTA #1 bus.

-Maps available at http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?mapterms=E51 and

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=70+Memorial+Dr,+Cambridge,+MA&ll

=42.360643,-71.084839&spn=0.001512,0.003369&t=h&om=1

07/26/2006 6:30-9:30 PM Bedford, NH Safety Complex

Wed. Bedford, NH

For More Information contact Jeff Des Rosiers-N1OOL at n1ool@comcast.net

or Hillsborough County NH SKYWARN Coordinator Jim Blaine-WD4JZO at

jtblaine@verizon.net

The 2006 SKYWARN training session has been very successful to date

and we look forward to having more trained spotters after these

final two sessions in the month of July. Thanks to all for their

continued support of the 2006 SKYWARN program.

SKYWARN Frequency Listing Updated with Latest Known Information....

The SKYWARN Frequency Listing has been updated on the SKYWARN web

site with the latest frequency information and designations. This

includes information on the Amateur Radio VoIP systems that can

be utilized during a SKYWARN Activation. Special thanks to

John Ruggerio-N2YHK, Western Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency

Coordinator and Terry Stader, KA8SCSP, Region I RACES Radio Officer

for giving me some corrections and some information that was

missing from the frequency listing. If anyone else notices information

missing from the frequency listing link, please email me. Below is

the link to the latest updated frequency listing:

http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo/freq.htm

Feature Article: The VoIP Hurricane Net....

The VoIP Hurricane Net is a net utilizing Amateur Radio repeaters and

links that are linked up through the Internet to provide surface

reports and connectivity between NWS Forecast Offices and the National

Hurricane Center station, WX4NHC, as well as connectivity between

local, regional, state and national EOC's. A weekly net is currently

held every Saturday at 8 PM EDT which is 0000 UTC on Sunday. The net

was meeting on the backup system but has since moved back to the

primary system on IRLP reflector 9219 and EchoLink conference Server

*WX-TALK*, Node #: 7203 since the article has been written. A link

to the article is on the ARRL web site and is listed below:

http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2006/05/31/1/?nc=1

Over the next few weeks, the VoIP Hurricane Net Management team is

hoping to get a revamped web site online including a reporting form

similar to what is on the existing web site for getting reports to

WX4NHC but with better data output for the hurricane specialists. It

is also noted that several Amateurs from the NWS Taunton County

Warning Area are active participants in the net. This includes

Phil McLaughlin-KB1CYO as a Net Control for the net, Jim Palmer-KB1KQW,

who is serving as the Weekly Net Control Scheduler for the net and

the author of this newsletter as the director of operations. The

net management team has also grown with the addition of Dennis Dura,

K2DCD, as Assistant Director of Net Operations, Matt Hoppes-KB3MSE,

as NCO trainer and Lloyd Colston-KC5FW, Public Information Officer/

Coordinator who has public affairs experience and assists the Mayes

County Emergency Management Agency based in Prior Oklahoma.

The NWS Taunton SKYWARN program will be able to connect up with

the National Hurricane Center via the VoIP Hurricane Net along with

HF via the Hurricane Watch Net if access to the Internet goes down

insuring a solid connection to the National Hurricane Center station,

WX4NHC, during a hurricane. If you're interested in participating or

assisting this net effort, please contact me.

Enhanced Fujita Scale to Be Utilized Beginning in 2007....

The Enhanced Fujita scale is a new scale being utilized starting in

2007 for tornado and severe weather damage. It will also be backward

compatible to the previous Fujita scale and is being enhanced to cover

areas that the original Fujita scale did not cover. Details on the

enhanced Fujita scale can be seen at the following link:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/efscale/

SPC Requests Public Feedback on Various Products....

The Storm Prediction Center is requesting Feedback on various products

that they have put together within the past several months. They include

an Experimental 3-8 Day Fire Weather Forecast, Enhanced Experimental

Thunderstorm Outlooks, and the Experimental Days 4-8 Severe Thunderstorm

Outlook. These feedback forms and products can be viewed off of the

SPC web site at http://www.spc.noaa.gov

NHC Requests Public Feedback on Various Products....

The National Hurricane Center is requesting feedback on the

experimental Storm Surge and the Experimental Valid Tropical Cyclone

Experimental Products. These two products are new for the 2006

Hurricane Season.

The experimental storm surge product is intended to give an idea of

surge heights within 24 hours of a hurricane making landfall on the

US Atlantic or Gulf Coasts of the United States. New products will

only be produced during that timeframe but static examples of past

events can also be seen on the web page. A link to the Storm Surge

page and the online survey and comment form can be seen at the

following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge_exp.shtml

Another new product being introduced is a Valid Time Event Code

product of tropical storm/hurricane watches and warnings and will

be distributed via text. The National Hurricane Center is looking

for feedback on this product as well and the product and online

survey can be found at the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/feedback-tcv.shtml

Special thanks for providing any feedback for the Storm Prediction

Center and National Hurricane Center new experimental products.

That's all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Pager #: (508) 354-3142

Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)

Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)

Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)

Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com

http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

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